Light more Cruel than Darkness
by wtdrgn
Summary: Light More Cruel than Dark explores the transformations of the mind and heart of Ryou Bakura. From total despair Ryou's true ambition emerges - revenge against his Yami.
1. Prologue

Prologue: Mirage of Fading Memories

The haze of early morning clings stubbornly to the earth for as long as night remains. Then, borne upward by the irresistible rays of the sun, it vanishes, unseen until the next evening. The ancient cycle endures indefinitely, death and rebirth as constant as the everlasting sun.

I lived my life in a similar fashion, with only a select few hours to call my own. Then, I too I would disappear without a trace to some destination invisible to the primitive human conception. 

Never before did I consider the qualities of self and identity as blessings. They are, rather, guaranteed to a person, even if they are unaware of it. So I thought until the morning that my father returned from Egypt...


	2. Chapter One

Chapter One: Sen Nen Ring

"Ryou, he's here!" my mother shouted to me.

I sprang from my bed and raced into the front hall. After all these years, my father was at last home! He had departed when I was seven, and I had not seen him since then. Now I was fifteen, in my first year of secondary school. Though a small part of me did not want him back at home, after half a lifetime of abandonment, I was still curious. Greeting a stranger from a distant land... That was all this reunion amounted to.

In the shadowy entryway, my mother and father loomed, dark silhouettes against deeper darkness. Something in my father's hand caught the light spilling from my bedroom, sparkling fitfully like firelight. Had he brought an artifact with him? I had to curb my curiosity long enough to shake his hand. "How do you do, sir?" I asked, my voice crusty. It was five in the morning, after all. Characteristically, Father was late.

"It's so good to finally have you back, dear," Mother said faintly. "Won't you have some coffee?"

"Sure," Father said. "Ryou! You've grown so tall!"

I bit down an acidic reply. After Mother bustled off to the kitchen to get the coffee, I motioned Father into the living room.

"Nothing's changed," he remarked. He surveyed the worn, comfortable furniture as if they were subjects in one of his precious digs, the musty, dust-caked trash of another age that so delighted him. He sat down heavily. For the first time, I noticed just how old he really was. Wrinkles sprouted across his face when he smiled like the roots of tiny plants.

"Ryou, my boy. I guess you share my enthusiasm for this sort of thing." He held the shiny object closer to the light. 

Had the interest I had in the golden artifact been that obvious? I wondered, disgusted with myself.

"Here. You can touch it," he said.

My fingers brushed golden metal as icy as a two-day corpse's heart. I shivered. "What is it?"

"It appears to be an ostentatious piece of jewelry," he said. "Look at this eye right here. This marks it as part of a collection from the eighteenth dynasty of Egypt." He uneasily fingered the pointed golden cylinders that hung from the sides of the hoop. "I want you to have it."I wordlessly took the gold hoop from his hands. Looking closely, I could see that a triangle adorned the center. In the center of the triangle was etched a staring, lidless eye. Though the design intrigued me, the shape of the artifact reminded me of an oversized dream catcher. "Won't your boss be angry that you took this?" 

"It didn't come from a dig. It attracted me in the bazaar, so I bought it. That eye steals my concentration, however." He crossed his arms. Subject closed.

I raised an eyebrow. What a ridiculous notion, I thought. I slouched in silence for several minutes while Father stared into space. 

Mother appeared with the coffee. "Ryou," she said. "Go to bed. Your father and I have much to discuss."

I made a show of yawning loudly. "Good morning then." As I crossed the dark hall, my parents' soft voices rose and fell. In my room I closed the door and held the hoop up to the light. 

The craftsmanship, I noticed, was especially fine. The ring was geometrically perfect, right down to the wide eye's pupil. I shrugged, figuring it was simply the cast-off of a local artist that Father had tired of. 

I placed it on my nightstand, and shut out the light. For several minutes, I sat atop my bed, staring into the darkness. Though the encounter with my father had possessed a surreal, dreamlike quality, I was wide awake now. 

Light from the street lamps poured into my window, a silent waterfall. Each ray seemed to dance in the ring, particularly in the eye. I expected any minute for it to blink. Like a sleepwalker, I groped for the ring. My hand closed over its cold metal. 

I wondered how the Egyptians would have worn such a strange piece of jewelry. Perhaps women punched such rings through their men's noses so they could not wander the world as my father had done. Or maybe it adorned a slender woman's waist as a belt... Suddenly an idea sprang to my mind.

I pawed through the assortment of wordly trash that had accumulated under my bed. I soondrew out a rope about the thickness of my thumb. I knotted it around the top of the hoop. There was still plenty of slack. If I were to put it over my neck, it would reach just below my heart. 

How did my addition to the oversized dream catcher look? Burning curiosity drove me to check a mirror. I laughed to myself softly on the way. I was as ridiculous as Father. Before the bathroom mirror, I slid the cord over my head. This close, the ring smelled of warm sand, spices, and another odor, sickly sweet, like that of decay. The rope was rough against my neck. I peered intently into the mirror, uncertain just what I expected to see there. 

At that moment, I saw only my reflection. Wild, white shoulder-length hair framed my face, which still had not lost the gentle curve of childhood, something I rather resented. I did not understand the significance of my gentle brown eyes looking back at me until it was too late. I adopted a cynical scowl much like those I supposed would twist the visages of ancient pharaohs. Suddenly, my reflection shone at me as clearly as if full daylight burned through the blinds. Looking down, I saw that the shine emitted from the lidless eye. My heart seemed to trip, first speeding up chokingly fast, then slowing to deathly stillness. What was happening? I edged closer to the cool glass. 

The presence of mercurial light in the dark room sent a band of shadows lurking about me. Horrified, I bit back a scream. The shadows were all about me, even blocking the door! They formed a circle around me, closing in slowly. Their features were indistinct, but I could make out their gleeful hissing, like the sizzling of flames. The blood drained from my face as they reached for me with clawed hands that protruded from their spindly arms. I frantically thrashed. My blood screamed, for my voice was locked deep within me. Despite my endeavors to escape, the shadows held me captive. 

Then all of them converged into a formless man who held me pinioned in his arms. He laughed a laugh as dry as the dust of mummies. Almost tenderly his hand stole down the rope that bound the hoop around my neck. Heaving a deep sigh of pleasure, he closed his fist around the center triangle, after which I remembered nothing more.


	3. Chapter Two

Chapter Two: Prison of Shadows

I awoke in a stone room bereft of furnishings. Intense cold seeped through the walls, floor, and ceiling. However, there was no moisture anywhere. I picked myself up from the floor and blinked blearily. A dream, I supposed. I brushed my hands together and noticed for the first time that they were grainy. In fact, the floor seemed to be moving beneath my feet. Sand. Unspeakable dread seeped into my middle. Slowly I had begun to connect the hoop with my presence here. I strode to the murky walls. Though there was no light in the room, the grayness seemed to shine from within as I approached. I looked down at my hands and gasped. The hoop was still around my neck, shining more brightly than ever before. It blazed with such radiance that though I knew it to be impossible, the light seemed to pass through my hands!

Suddenly a section of wall at the far end wriggled. Not caring for my own safety, I dashed towards the sound. Moonlight splashed across the hills of sand, catching in the crevices. I could see now just how small my prison was. Two men strode in, bringing with them the scent of chilly night air. I breathed their scents greedily. Before I had not realized the stench of this place. A bundle swathed in cloth rode atop their shoulders. A strange dream indeed, I thought. I came closer to them, but they did not even look at me. The leader of the two sighed and set the burden down none too gently. "Hurry! We have to get back before we're found out!" 

The other man grunted and dropped his end to the ground. This caused several of the end cloths to fall away. I gasped in horror. A corpse's burnt face stared back at me. The men still took no notice of me. I frantically reached for the shoulder of one. My hand passed through him. He only shivered. "I told you it was bad luck to bury a nobleman in a thief's tomb!"

"Let's go. We're wasting time."

"Wait!" I pleaded. "Oh please wait!" I followed close on their heels. However, when I reached the door to the tomb, I found that I could not escape. "No!" I screamed as the men replaced the seal. 

The moonlight faded, leaving me in utter darkness with the unmoving corpse. Terror and rage clashed in my body. "If this is a dream, I want to wake up!" I shouted. "I demand it!" At length, I tired of shouting to the dead man and the unresponding walls. I crept to a corner far from him and sat hunched as if I could make myself disappear. Somehow I found myself gripping the hoop. Unlike the men it did not allow my fingers to pass through it. I closed my eyes, clinging to its reassuring solidarity. Somehow I had to awaken from this dream!


	4. Chapter Three

Chapter Three: Identity Thief

"Rare card...rare card..." The two words echoed in my mind. I snapped to alertness. There _were_ voices in the tomb, those of the moaning wind and whispering sand. Yet they never spoke this clearly. Though I feared I would behold only blackness heaped upon dark as I had so many times before, I opened my eyes. I bit back a gasp. I was back in my old classroom at Domino High School. I touched the desktop cautiously, bracing for disappointment. Surely my hand would pass through the smooth, polished wood. It must be a hallucination, this classroom. Starvation or thirst had set in, transforming the tomb into this familiar place. My finger trembled atop the desk and remained there. I clenched my fist tightly. Looking down I realized I was clad in my navy blue school uniform. The gold hoop glinted upon my chest. Impossible! I seethed mentally. It hadn't been a dream!

A gleam of light caught my eye. I looked toward the window, where Mutou Yugi sat. I realized it was he who had mentioned the rare card. In fact, quite a crowd had gathered around him. I joined them, not really understanding my compulsion to do so. The card game I recognized as Duel Monster, a game quickly growing popular in the city. 

Yugi rose, again victorious. My heart beat faster. Around Yugi's neck glinted a golden pyramid the size of my two fists. In the exact center of the pyramid, a single eye stared tirelessly. It seemed to lock gazes with the eye I myself wore. I squeezed my eyes shut. Somehow I had to get away from that stare! 

Nausea swept me down the hall into the deserted bathroom. Before the sink I waited for the sickness to come. It had vanished, however, overcome by dread. For the smooth glass showed someone tall lurking behind me. Beside him, I appeared a frightened effeminate parody of myself. He had my wild hair, but towered over me by a head. His eyes were fathomless pools of boundless darkness. My pulse quickened. Even now I could sense that if he struck, it would be as quick as a snake and deadly as serpent's poison. Slowly I turned to confront him. There was no one behind me, however. Puzzled, I looked again to the mirror. My sinister other self sneered and cupped his hands around the ring that he too wore around his neck. The possessive glint in those demonic eyes was unmistakable. You, the sinister eyes said without a word, belong to me.

Shaken, I fled the room. In the deserted halls, there was noone to impede me. I started to walk home. My hands trembled, and I soon broke into a run. The ring bashed against my chest. At last, gasping for breath, I came to a stop beside a sewer grate. Shaking violently, I snatched the ring from my neck and gripped it with my sweaty palms. I felt certain that now _it _was the source of my trouble. _It _would cause no more, however. I would see to that. I bent over the grate and let the slender gold hoop fall. Long I listened for the splash, but hearing none, was forced at last to be on my way.

My heart, though relieved of its burden, strangely felt heavier than before. I strode home in the waning sunlight, my shadow long across the pavement. At my house, I let myself in. Mother and Father were in the kitchen. They greeted me, but did not behave as if I had been missing at all. In fact, they seemed tight-lipped as if concealing tremendous anger toward me. It worsened as the evening wore on. At last at dinner I inquired about their silence.

"Why, Ryou!" Mother chose her words carefully. "You've been so sullen these past few days...like you haven't been yourself at all..."

Chills overtook me as I thought of the other reflection of myself I had glimpsed in the mirror, the image that had vanished when I had turned around. _His_ blazing eyes framed a heart formed of time-sharpened stone.

"Ryou." Father broke the silence. "I realize that you must see me as an intruder in this house." He sighed deeply. "You've every reason. I haven't been much of a husband or father."

I almost choked. "I..."

"For that reason, I have accepted a job at a dig in Iraq. I will leave tomorrow. Your mother and I have talked it over. She agrees that it is best."

I noticed for the first time how red and puffy Mother's eyes were. Rage ignited in me as the reality of the situation sank in. Whatever harm that being in the ring had caused, I had to undo!

"You can't!" I burst out.

"Ryou!" Mother shouted. "Just stop! You selfish, arrogant, manipulative...!"

I gasped and swallowed hard. What had I done save for making matters worse? In that instant I realized that my father was probably the only other person who knew of the strange properties of the hoop, the only one who would not find my own observations delusional, ranting, raving - utterly insane. The ring somehow knew this and had gotten rid of him. Never in my life had I felt so alone.

My mother rose from the table, hiding her face in her hands. Father remained silent, making no effort to stop her.

"Wait! Mother!"

"Don't, Ryou!" Father's anger set the dining room shadows fluttering.

I stared at him. Something inside of me gave way. Furious, I strode to my room and slammed the door so hard that the walls jumped. Despair clawed at my heart. I had so much damage to account for. How much more remained for me to uncover?

I began to wonder about Mutou Yugi. Where had _his_ item come from? Perhaps, I thought, he could explain my strange experience. As I lay on my bed, my mind wandered. Why dwell on what had happened? The hoop would be staring through a blur of sewage right about now, after all.

__

Is it? The raspy whisper turned my blood to ice. The serpentine tone bespoke of cunning and confidence. 

I could conceive of only one man who could be its keeper. "It is!" I shouted aloud, determined to be strong.

__

Look about your neck. The dangerously soft voice had an almost hypnotic effect on me. My traitorous hands stole to my neck, where my fingers closed around the rope. I tore away as if I had been burned. I lay staring at my shaking hands. Sewer slime coated my fingers. "No," I groaned. "How can this be?"

__

I have chosen you. We will never be parted now, despite your most desperate wishes.

"Show yourself, coward!" I snarled. I leapt from the bed and stared about the room. However, I could discern no figures, even in the deepest of the shadows. 

__

I am no coward! His voice, once sinister, yet melodically sneering, turned harsh and ferocious. _Fool! Each time you look on the Sen Nen ring, you look upon me. Aren't _you _the coward for fleeing _me_?_

"Shut up!" I cried, losing control. Terror had seized me and was choking the sanity right out of me. I threw open the window and flung the Sen Nen Ring into the night. Panting, I slammed the window shut. Apart from my ragged gasps, nearly sobs now, the room remained silent. 

Trembling violently, I made my way back to bed. There I lay for an indeterminable time in the half-light that had brought me to this hell. My mind, though aswarm with thoughts, could not isolate one of them. I remained this way, paralyzed atop the bed, neither dreaming nor sleeping, nor resting nor thinking until the first gray of morning crept in through the windows. 

I rose with foreboding that resonated with my every heartbeat. Today, I sensed, the problem would only worsen. Sure enough, the instant I stepped into the hallway, my mother cried out an almost hysterical plea. I sluggishly moved toward her bedroom door. It was bolted.

"Dear, you simply can't leave! Ryou has been acting stranger since he's found out that you're leaving! He was tossing and turning all night! I doubt that he slept for a minute. Then I found that hideous eye ring by the dumpsters this morning... I can't understand it, darling!" She began to hiccup and sob by turns. "While you were here, he wouldn't even let me touch that loathsome thing. He was as vicious about it leaving his neck as a lion losing its catch of meat. Yet yesterday...he acted as if it repulsed him."

I could almost imagine her fingers closing around the icy gold as my other self's lips curled into a smirk.

"I can't deal with it myself! If anyone's to blame, it's you! You're never here when it's important!" she raged. 

"Aren't you being selfish?" Father asked after a fitful silence.

"If there's any selfishness involved, I'm almost certain that it's yours! Your other terrific gift to the poor boy!" 

I tore away from the door. Sick curiosity kept me in the hall, however. Had she really found the ring by the dumpsters? How was it possible? They were outside of Mother's window, on the opposite side of the house to me. 

"Ryou!" Mother gasped when she opened the door. Her eyes were red from crying and her knuckles white. Sure enough, the Sen Nen Ring dangled from her wrist, a giant's bracelet. "I think that we need to get help! This is too much for the two of us to deal with alone, even though we have..." She sniffled, searching for the words. "A pretty good track record in the past." She smiled at her own bitter joke.

I did not smile with her, however. Beside her hovered opaque mist formed of ghost's clothes and shadow capes. I stared at it.

"Ryou? What are you looking at?"

It was as if I had been punched in the stomach. I reeled backwards, out of my body. "Don't just stand there, idiot!" That cynical, appalling voice...that of my other self. As if in a dream, I watched as I snatched the Sen Nen Ring from Mother. She gasped and jerked away, cowering. My other self made as if to lunge at her. Mother screamed and slammed the bedroom door shut. 

My other self darted down the hallway to the door and flung it open. I was propelled along, irresistibly, as if I were a kite looped around his wrist. He sprinted down the boulevard that ran in front of our house, upsetting pedestrians and traffic alike. He seemed to have no regard for his own safety. Yet, I mused, why should he? It was my stolen body after all. It was as if he had a destination in mind. We rounded many corners, his tennis shoes slapping the pavement, his breath coming in ragged spurts. I on the other hand, did not tire. I simply followed, shapeless mist formed of the cobwebs that cloud mind and memory. I vaguely could tell that we were en route to Domino Piers. Through a haze confusion and apathy, I wondered what he sought there. Beside the warehouses, my other self threw himself to the ground. His shoulders and breath moved as a bellows, expelling a woosh of air with every powerful compression. I crossed my arms, doing my best to imitate his sinister expression. "Why is it that I can now see you?" I demanded. "And why did you...save me?"

My other self snorted. "I did nothing for your sake!" He held the Sen Nen Ring before him, admiring it. "Surely you realize that without your body I am useless? If your body is imprisoned as that horrid woman meant to do, it is the same as death to me."

Chills raced up and down my transparent arms. My other self, with his savage eyes, wilder hair, and ferocious, animal-like breathing, burned with fiery hatred of all who would bar his will. He _would_ be a prime candidate for a mental institution.

He laughed. "Your analysis is only partially correct," he said.

"You can read minds..." I said it dully. My fear had long spilled over. It would only be a matter of time before it drowned me. My other self was stronger, infinitely so!

"A facade of madness tricks people into carelessness. They make mistakes that they would not usually. Of course with you," he leered at me. "Such a game is unnecessary."

Somehow I held his gaze. "You can see me, and I can see you. Why?"

The spirit of the Sen Nen ring looked up from admiring his former prison. "I took you by force. You resisted those other times, and you saw me. Yet when I did not... I simply vanished. It has something to do with this body we share in common." He appraised my slim, white limbs with a sneer.

As I endured these humiliations, I found myself thinking of Mutou Yugi. Why had I simply reappeared in my body when he had been there? Was it possible that one eye could offset the effects of the other? Perhaps Yugi could help me get my other self under control. Did he have these sorts of problems with his item? 

I looked at Yami Bakura as I had come to think of him. Had he heard my thoughts? No. He couldn't have. He continued to look from the body he infested to the Sen Nen Ring. Suddenly I seized upon a plan. If he could knock me out of my body then surely I could do likewise to him. Clearly I would never be without the Sen Nen Ring. Nonetheless, if I could reach Yugi in time, the problem might never repeat itself. I drew on all my mental reserves and flung myself at Yami Bakura. 

He grunted, but flew out of my body, resuming that opaque, misty form. Though my body was already tired, terror fueled my spirit. I repeated my Yami's mad dash in reverse, from Domino Piers to my house. It was farther than I ever imagined. I sagged by the gate, gasping. My lungs dripped fire; my body pulsed with myriad tangled emotions I might never unknot. Even as I leaned against the gate, which swung open and shut with almost spectral abandon, I realized that I could not stop here and go back to the life my Yami had abandoned for me. Bitterness, acrid and sharp ballooned in my lungs. My hand strayed to the Sen Nen Ring, to the eye that never shut. I had to find Yugi! I looked about for the curls of smoke that meant my other self was nearby. Finding none, I set off again for the Game Shop. It was only a few streets away. These I sprinted as if pursued by Yami Bakura himself. Panting, I sighted the Game Shop in the distance. The neon lights were a beacon, beckoning me to safety. At last I stood under their comforting illumination. I composed myself as best as I could and entered the shop. Cards lined the shelves and colorful posters crowded the walls. 

"Irashai!" Yugi's grandfather, Sugoroku Mutou, called to me. "How can I help you today?"  
"I'd like to speak to Yugi about something important," I said. 

"Gomen ne," Sugoroku said. "Yugi's not here."


	5. Chapter Four

Chapter Four The Duelist Kingdom Part I

All the hope that had gathered in me had formed a tremendous crescendo, a spinning wave of water. Just as this wave of hope reached its height, it shattered on the sharp rocks, splintered into a thousand shards that could never be reassembled. "Where is he?" I almost screamed. 

"He's sailing for the Duelist Kingdom tonight. If you hurry to Domino Piers, you can find him on the ship chartering a course to Pegasus J. Crawford's private island."

"Arigatou!" I yelled over my shoulder. Would I make it to Domino Piers before Yugi's ship set sail? Though I ran as fast as I could, my energies were already waning from my mad dash of before. I had not crossed even half of the distance before my side began to ache. I slowed to a walk and then to a plod. All the while I cursed the delay. "Matte, Yugi!" I whispered ceaselessly under my breath. As I walked, I retied the Sen Nen ring's cord around my neck. Then I set off again. Already the lights of the city had begun to flicker to life. I knew that I did not have much time. My lungs seared; I drowned in sweat and half-drawn breaths. The pavement was as thunder beneath my feet and my every step a leap from one chasm of eternity to the next. 

At last I reached the piers. Lights danced in the water, which lapped at the docks. My troubled heart had no business in this peaceful place. Frantically I looked around for Yugi. Suddenly welcome ruckus met my ears. I turned my head and saw an immense cruise ship, outfitted for what promised to be a festive voyage. Lined up before it were countless duelists. I knew them even without being close. They exuded an air of secret knowledge, not to mention dedication. Their eyes shone with one purpose. I wondered if this perception was due to the Sen Nen Ring. I came a little closer. Gorilla-like men dressed in dark suits flanked the duelists, herding them into the ship. Tight security, I thought. Nonetheless, it wouldn't stop me! 

I sighted Mutou Yugi; his tri-colored hair always made him easy to spot in a crowd. Though I longed to dash to his side, screaming his name, Yugi's best friend, Jounouchi, beat me to it. The loud boy drew the security guards after him. Though the delay filled me with apprehension, I knew that I had to bide my time. Otherwise, like Jounouchi, the ape-like men would kick me out. Suddenly I remembered that the boat would sail tonight. Yugi would be gone for days, maybe a whole week! I swallowed hard and looked about the ship. There had to be a way to sneak in. I had made no preparations for a journey, and there was no guarantee that Yugi could even help me. Nonetheless, I felt in my heart that my instinct to follow him was right. 

I gathered my courage and approached the boat. The guards had amassed around Jounouchi and Yugi like ants around a cake. In doing so, they had left a side door unguarded. I slid into the dim corridor. It reeked of stale salty air. I hurried through them to the more hospitable commons. Here the duelists were already trading and practicing furiously. I bit my lip. Yugi was nowhere to be found. Where could he be? 

The boat lurched beneath me, and the engine gave a great cough. My stomach churned. Had I made a mistake? I left the stuffy commons. At the rail I watched Domino harbor shrink like a rainbow-splashed puddle in the sun. As the familiar city vanished into the evening, I felt my hope fading with it.

We sailed for a full day. Though I sought Yugi amongst the other duelists, I could not find him. When the ship pulled into the Duelist Kingdom, I sighted him. He, Jounouchi, Honda, and Anzu were descending the gangplank to the lovely island, friends partaking of a merry adventure. I pushed through the crowd and raced to catch up with them. They neared the ancient castle that stood atop a rocky mound. Beside the castle an overgrown forest writhed and twisted. Each growth within plotted schemes of suffocating green darkness. I stared at the forest for a long while. Its savage, unkempt nature fascinated me. Since I was not a contestant, I reasoned that it would be okay to explore for a while. Yet, I argued with myself, I had to ask Yugi about the Sen Nen Ring and the evil spirit inside of it! Chills dotted my arms. Though I clearly was in my own body, my other self was controlling _me_! Against my own will, I went deeper and deeper into the forest. Darkness closed around me like a curtain, secluding me from all help. In the deepest patch of midnight, Yami Bakura rose from me like a ghost from a grave. In this dimness I could make out his shape as clearly as if he stood behind me in a mirror. His mouth twisted sardonically. 

"I too wish for you to encounter young Mutou Yugi," he said in his sneering voice. "However, now is not the time. In fact, I would prefer that you conceal the Sen Nen Ring for a while."

I flushed with hot anger. "I won't hide it! It's the reason I followed him all the way here!" I fed off my own boldness and added, "So I can get rid of you!"

"Get rid of me?" Yami Bakura pursed his lips as if assessing the danger of Yugi's abilities. He folded his arms and regarded me with eyes as cold as death upon frost. "You will attempt no such thing."

"You can't order me! I'm back in control of my body!"

"I allowed you to return to it by choice. Just as easily I can remove you from it." My other self advanced on me. Though he was spectral, I backed away from the hatred that flickered in his frigid eyes. "Of course..." He sneered. "When I finish with you, you shall _beg_ to do my will." 

His fingers closed around my wrist. Transparent though they were, they cut like a knife formed of ice. I gasped and swung at him. Yami Bakura tightened his grip and flung me to the forest floor. From there, blows like needles and knives rained on me, a downpour of cataclysmic proportions. What screams the forest did not swallow filled my head. Finally I was too exhausted to even whimper. Tears streaked my face. My other self remained atop me, hurting purely to sate his cruel pleasure. At last he stopped and hauled me roughly to my feet. My spirit broken, I sagged back down to my knees. "Expect worse if the thought of Yugi's help so much as enters your mind," he warned. 

I could not bear to meet his steely eyes, so I inspected the damage I had incurred at his hands. In the dim forest light, I could discern not even a scratch. I ran a finger across my throbbing wrist. I expected to feel figures eights slashed there, abraded chunks of skin like a chalk pattern upon a rough road, blood marking the way as it snaked on through senseless eternity. However, my flesh was smooth and unbroken. Somehow I still experienced the pain of a hellacious beating without my Yami inflicting a scratch upon me. Wihtout a second thought I did as he asked and concealed the Sen Nen Ring with only a touch and a thought.

At that moment, the power he wielded filled me with horror. My darker self vanished, but his voice lingered in my mind, directing me. He would use me as a pawn when I did encounter Mutou Yugi. To what end, I could not say and would not learn until the duel that began in the cradle of night.

My Yami directed me to remain in the forest, claiming that Yugi would soon pass this way. When he did, I was to join his party and challenge him to a duel using the favorite cards of all those with him. I had never been good at lying and protested. Yami Bakura only whispered, "Remember..." 

A flash of pain shot through both of my wrists. He parted from me with this token of remembrance. I meanwhile, hid in the bushes to wait for Yugi. I watched the sun's blood dribble down through the leaves die. Soon after, the sun itself died. Before long, the moon's soft glow shone through. All about me, the leaves and branches were the darkened set of an abandoned stage. Footsteps crunched occasionally through the silence. I must have fallen asleep, for I awoke to the sound of hissing flames. Someone nearby had started a fire. I peeped out of my hiding place and almost sobbed with relief. It was Yugi and his many friends! 

__

I won't do as you ask, Yami! I vowed.

__

You will! he answered.

I despised myself, knowing that it was true. 

"Come out! Or we're going in!" Jounouchi and Honda yelled. 

I emerged with a heavy heart. "Yugi-kun," I said. Agony equal to the unseen wounds of my body welled up in my heart. 

"Bakura-kun!" Yugi smiled.

"It _wasn't_ an illusion that I saw!" Anzu told Honda.

Somehow I went through the motions of asking everyone which card was their favorite. I even found one for me: Change of Heart. "Let's have a duel, Yugi," I said. To my amazement, my voice remained gentle, giving no indication how I despised the words. "Not for star chips, though. Just for fun."

"Great idea," Yugi said. "We can put everyone's cards in and it will be like we're all playing together!"

"You'll never beat all of us!" Jounouchi grinned.

"Wait! Before we begin, there is something that I must show you!" I was desperate now. If I could only make the Sen Nen Ring appear... I did not doubt my Yami's power, but I _had _knocked him free of my body before. Perhaps I could surprise him again... Sure enough, the ring materialized beneath my fingertips. Yugi and his friends gasped.

Before I could explain the situation to Yugi, Yami Bakura flung me from my body. I stood beside him, transparent. In this state, the wounds were devastating, clearly weeping transparent blood. Yami Bakura laughed in triumph. The energies inside the Sen Nen Ring shifted. Though I first thought this was a punishment meant especially for me, I noticed that the Ring jerked Yugi and his friends' souls from their bodies. The empty shells collapsed to the ground, useless. The souls disappeared into the deck that Yugi had just reconstructed. I watched helplessly from the sides. Then my own deck jerked me toward it. Despite my valiant efforts, I could not escape its pull. Everything about me went black.


	6. Chapter Five

Chapter Five Duelist Kingdom Part II

When I could see again, I stood atop an enormous black rectangle flecked with spirals of gold. I gasped, realizing this was a giant-sized version of a Duel Monsters playing field. I looked down at my feet and noticed that I was clad in the robes of my favorite card, the Change of Heart. My Yami loomed above me, horrifyingly godlike. Murder shone in his eyes. Terror washed over me. "Change of Heart on Black Magician Yugi!" he directed.

I froze and looked across the board, where Yugi and his friends cowered. Behind them another Yugi, stronger, more determined, and taller, despite the initial illusion of largeness, kept vigil. His narrowed eyes brimmed with courage. I knew that I could never betray him. He, if none other, could help me.

My heart beat faster as I skimmed my side of the board. The High Priestess stood at my side. Instead of doing as my Yami said, I lunged for her. As when I had forced him from my body, she yielded easily. Now I was clad in the tri-colored robes and heavy headdress she wore. "Sa, Yugi-kun! Kill me!" The plea, though reckless, embodied the very soul of my desperation. "The graveyard will be better than being under the control of an evil spirit!" I braced myself for death. 

Before my other self could react, golden light on the other side of the board shattered the darkness. The pyramid Yugi wore beneath his heart formed the source of the glow. It increased in radiance with my every heartbeat until it seemed that I stood before a window bathed with sunlight. I closed my eyes to the light as it enveloped me. Death, I thought, should not be so beautiful.

I opened my eyes and blinked as if awakening from a long, confusing dream. I sat across from Yugi's other self. Somehow I had been removed from the game board without being forced into the graveyard. I looked down and saw Yami Bakura clad in the priestess's clothes. 

"Black Magician attack the High Priestess!" Yami Yugi ordered.

My Yami, though small, emitted a scream that echoed in the deepest caverns of my heart. I could not bear to watch. Though Yami Yugi had rescued me from the graveyard, he had still killed a part of me. Nonetheless, he was my savior. At that time I vowed I would never forget it. 

However, I soon found after the Shadow Game concluded that no savior, even mine could banish evil forever. Throughout our travels together in the Duelist Kingdom, the Sen Nen Ring remained about my neck. I could not part with it, even with Yami Bakura gone. I learned this during Yugi's battle with Pegasus. When I learned that Mokuba held the key to Kaiba Corporation, something stirred from deep within the Sen Nen Ring. Before I could comprehend the words, my other self materialized beside me. My savior, otherwise occupied, could not help me now. My heart plummeted. 

Yami Yugi had wounded him by sending him to the graveyard. However, as part of the darkness himself, he had survived and hardened. He looked, if at all possible, meaner. Within my own body he leered at me, enjoying his parasitical existence. 

Even when Honda knocked me senseless and hurled the Sen Nen Ring into the gnarled forest beneath the castle, the Ring and my other self reappeared to torment me. _You will never be rid of me! _He crowed with glee. In the graveyard, his power had increased. I had no hope of blocking him from my body and thus remained detached from it. Sometimes I trailed after him for what seemed endless intervals as he committed his foul mimicry of me. Other times, I returned to his dismal grave. There I sat for hours, thinking and despairing. Even Yugi, my last hope, had failed me! 


	7. Epilogue

Epilogue Light more Cruel than Darkness

After long reflection, I realized what I must do about my other self. However, the nature of the doing involved more cruelty than I had ever used in my entire life heretofore. 

To accomplish my ambition, he must come to trust me. Rather than be his slave, I would be his servant. I would not resist his will, even if he asked me again to be his pawn. No matter who it hurt, I would play the game, gambling with lives and sanity. Even Yugi's. Even my own. In this way, gaining Yami Bakura's confidence, whatever plans he kept as his alone would become mine. Knowing them, I could help him to faster realize them. Doing so would sharpen my cruelty until it could cut even him down.

Thereafter, I put my plan into action. In the space of about a month, I had hurt more people than I had in my entire life. When Yugi's puzzle was broken, I stole a piece and allowed my Yami to infest it with his energy. I broke my own arm at the order of Yami Bakura so that a man named Marik, with whom he was working, could get at Yugi. I even allowed three duelists to be swallowed in the darkness summoned from our graveside duel.

The sacrifices weren't for naught, however. As I did his bidding, my Yami entrusted me with several key facts regarding the Sen Nen Items and his lust for them. The one who possessed all seven items and three God Cards could control the world. When he told me, I carefully concealed my thoughts from him. My other self would gather these golden items and the three cards with my help. When that day at last came, I, endowed with powers consolidated in long isolation and harsh experience, would usurp him. The power he sought would become mine. Using this new power, I would seal him from my body forever and take all he had gained by using it. This perpetual torment would be an ample beginning for his punishment for having destroyed my old life.

Being stripped of truths that formed the basis of myself, though I was unaware of it, has changed me. I became another person, a stronger man for what I have survived. 

Even now, I eagerly await the day that I will strike my heartless, greedy other self with justice. At times, an hour lasts for a millenium. Yet I possess the patience to wait until the time is right. 


	8. Copyright info

Copy Right Blurb  
  
Please don't sue me. I have received no commercial gains for composing this work. This is a piece of pure fandom for the greatest anime of all time: Yu-gi- oh. I acknowledge that the characters and so forth belong solely to their respective creators (not me!). 


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